Over 30 million children eat a government-subsidized lunch every day in the United States alone. Some children complain about portion sizes, but still waste food. Other children complain about the task and/or quality of the food and skip lunch altogether. Roughly half of these lunches are served off or reusable trays and half are served off of disposable Styrofoam trays or paper trays.
The food that school cafeterias serve to school children often is heavily skewed towards too many starchy and sweet dishes, and not enough vegetables or fruits. Moreover, soft drinks, which substantially add calories to a child's diet while providing little nutrition, are often consumed in favor of healthier beverages, like milk.
Childhood obesity has doubled since the early 1980's, and some have attributed this problem, in part, to the content of school lunches. About 75% of school aged children eat lunch provided by the cafeteria at their school. A typical school lunch accounts for a third of a student's daily caloric intake. Lunches provided by school cafeterias are estimated to add substantially more calories to a student's diet than lunches brought to school from home (e.g., bagged lunches, etc.). Over time, the accumulation of unhealthful eating choices, including those offered by typical school cafeteria lunches, could easily contribute to weight gain and obesity in children.
Although school lunch programs have substantial control over many aspects of their operations, including lunch content, choice mechanism, portion size, eating environment, price, payment, and extent of parental control, school lunch programs have primarily focused concerns on the content of lunches, rather than focusing on factors that may help children develop healthier eating habits.
Although the focus of the foregoing description is on school children, similar problems arise in any cafeteria setting for consumers of any age, including adults.